1st U.S. public college asks applicants about LGBT

Dec. 12, 2012
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by Tara Bannow, Iowa City Press-Citizen

by Tara Bannow, Iowa City Press-Citizen

The University of Iowa has made two changes to a portion of its undergraduate admissions application designed to make the process more inclusive to prospective students who are members of the LGBT population.

The changes make UI the second university in the U.S. behind Elmhurst College to allow students to self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in an identification portion of the application, rather than in an interest portion of the application. Elmhurst, which made the change last year, is a private college, and UI is the nation's first public institution to make the change.

In an online portion of the admissions process, students will now have the option of selecting 'Transgender' as their gender, rather than only 'Male' or 'Female.' Another portion of the application will now contain a box that says "Do you identify with the LGBT community?" that students can opt to select.

UI Senior Admissions Counselor Jake Christensen said that even for students who don't identify as LGBT, the options will let them know early on that the UI campus is accepting of all orientations.

"It sets that precedent of all people of all different kinds of diversity are respected here," he said. "Even if you don't want to identify, just seeing that I think communicates a pretty strong message to prospective students."

Christensen, a UI alumnus and member of the LGBT community, also works for the organization Campus Pride, which advocates for LGBT rights on colleges campuses. Campus Pride initially approached Christensen about making the change, which he said he suggested to UI's Director of Admissions Michael Barron, who was supportive.

Iowa City is already known throughout Iowa as being an accepting environment, and Christensen said he thinks the change will strengthen that reputation.

"Students are coming here because of that," he said. "I think this will enhance that."

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